Friday, July 15, 2011

"High Fashion Is Where Her Money Goes" — Prince

I've commented before that, even as a kid, I never liked the Domar-based economy of Gamma World.  It seemed silly to me that an Ancient, hard-plastic currency would still be in use, when the post-apocalyptic residents should be melting it down for armor and weapons.

In my current campaign, I've played a bit loose with the economics, and the barter system reigns supreme.  The closest analogs to "hard currency" I use are scratched-up Ancient CDs / DVDs and credit cards, with values fluctuating based on color, logo, text, holographic embossing, etc....

...but after seeing these pics of the "Colour Chiefs", I may have to revise my system.  I want ALL my Mutant Future future mutants to dress like this.






(Images first seen at How To Be A Retronaut, but originally designed by The Library.)

7 comments:

  1. Not only do those work for a Mutant Future or other post apocalyptic setting but they also could be used with Shadowrun. I guess that raises a question though. Could you consider Shadowrun a post apocalyptic game?

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  2. I, personally, never considered Shadowrun to be post-apocalyptic, as most places had functional air-conditioning. By my exacting Texan standards, A/C = civilized; no A/C = barbaric hellscape.

    GDW's Dark Conspiracy, with its swaths of monster-filled badlands, always felt more post-apoc than Shadowrun.

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  3. @Wymarc - Well, in the older since of apocalypse as a world changing event, I'd say yes. In the looser modern sense of destruction of the world, no.

    Those are perfect for Gamma World primitives!

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  4. Awesome pictures! Thanks for the post. I like all the recycled trash as part of armor & jewelry. Your blog has got me reading The Mutant Epoch and planning out a campaign for that system.

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  5. I don't think of Shadowrun as POST-apocalyptic. More like Smack-Dab In The Midst-Apocalyptic.

    Or, just Apocalyptic.

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  6. @Trey, Theron: Good comments.

    @Padre: Sooner than later, I plan to do more with The Mutant Epoch. It saw print just as I was deluged with school and work, and simply got away from me.

    I love gonzo apocalypses, but I like my fantasy down-n-dirty (as seen in Glenn Cook's fiction)...and TME combines those in a way that's very satisfying.

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  7. I can see the points about post apocalyptic and SR not quite fitting the bill as the genre is defined.

    I liked he idea behind Dark Conspiracy though the one time someone tried to run it for me I ruined it for them. I think I posted about it.

    Regardless the pictures would work for the Native American Nations in SR.

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